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I liked the process for the 'creative weekly planner'..specifically the comments about how you don't see things that have been around too long. The idea of moving stuff around so it's visible, and changing the visual cues is a really interesting one.

Personally, I have never done drawings on my planners except doodles in the margins when I'm bored on a conference call. Also, I tend to do my planning on a daily basis because that's how often my landscape changes. But the idea of reviewing the overarching project plan and moving stuff to the calendar is a pretty standard one that is common to a lot of systems.

The post-it-notes would be interesting, but I am afraid of the weakness of the sticky. I'd have to get the extra strong stickies if I was going to trust them, I suppose.

For now, I'll stick with my index cards, but I might doodle on them more to keep them from becoming part of the background blur.

Shris,
Do you use your index cards as a HPDA?
I tried cards for a bit, but I like seeing the 'big picture'--and stickes can do that for me. ***I feel the need to state I ONLY use Post-It brand. Haven't lost one yet!***
Here is another sticky note option, GTD style: http://www.easetheload.com/index.php?option=com_content&view...

No, no HPDA for me. I have an index card box on my desk with 43 tabs plus a few extras, a la Sidetracked Home Executives. I have a magnetic document stand and some magnets so I can pull out the top priority cards and stick them up visually as part of my plan. I toss them when they're done. It's usually one action or project per card. Right now I'm just using blank cards. One thing I particularly like about my box is that I made my day tabs (1-31) in a 7-up configuration so it's really easy to take a card from any given tab and find the same day the following week to re-file it. A lot of my cards are recurring items--at least one per day and sometimes several. I bought the standard 5-up tabs and modified them to make them 7-up, because I hate having to spend time on the mental math just to reschedule something for next Tuesday.

My big picture is mostly the stuff I have to do this day, this week, or later. So this day goes up on the document stand, and everything else goes back in the box after I've reviewed it. In some respects the tabs I have for inbox/today/week/month/later are like the system Kenji Ohta made with his getting things done game. Stuff goes in a day tab or a month tab if it really needs to be done that day/month, but not at a particular time.

I have my calendar on my phone, which syncs with my work email and also with my kids' google calendars. Of course the calendar is for things that have a date and time. I have a shopping list app on my phone too, which syncs with my husband's phone so either of us can shop and have an updated list.

For the odd large document involved in a task, I have a binder with 43 pocket protectors to stuff those in. So the bills go in there until they're paid, and forms I need to take to school or the doctor or whatever go in there until it's time to deal with them. I write on the task card to look in the binder if there's supporting materials.

I also have a scratch notebook open on my desk for jotting down little notes through the day, like names of fields I need to refer to in my coding, or the test plan for the XYZ project, or any other little ephemera that have no lengthy life.

I work from home, so I have home and work stuff together in the box/binder/calendar. This stuff never moves, really.

I have a shirt pocket briefcase from Levenger that I keep blank cards in that I take with me everywhere. Sometimes I write down things I want to buy later, or dimensions I need to take to the store with me. Mostly that is an inbox of sorts for when I'm out and about. I love that thing. It perfectly serves its function, with no extra baggage.

My system morphs regularly, but the synching calendar, the shopping list, and the scratch pad are pretty much permanent at this point. I really like index cards, though, because they're large enough to really write the details of something if you need to, but small enough to be stored in a compact arrangement. I think I posted a picture of my box on the Flickr group..but not with all the tabs in it. Since then it's been used, retired, dug out, used, retired again..

*shrug* I keep an eye out for new ideas, and the idea of decorating the cards with unique drawings is interesting and not too much overhead to try out. I used to have very finely printed cards for all my housework stuff so they would be attractive and nice to look at, but one task per card was too much volume for little stuff. I might have to make new pretty cards for the housework things I keep in my box. It goes along with that old saw, "Keep nothing that isn't beautiful, useful, or that you love"..which I've completely butchered, of course, but you get the idea.

Shris,
Found your Flickr set. Snazy card box and very ingenius plastic jotter. I REALLY liked your task box for your kids! I might do that with some of my post its--Thanks for the inspriation!
Ostrander
=)

Thank you, Ostrander. Now the box doesn't look the same--my daughter 'borrowed' it for a while and now it's got scribbles all over it. She seems even to have been experimenting with writing her name backwards--mirror style.

The plastic jotter was more of an exercise than a practical thing. I much prefer my leather one. The card system for the kids was cool for a while, and it definitely helped us at a time when we needed it. I have seen other systems for kids that do similar things, but I already had all the stuff for this one.

The systems still morph regularly. Sometimes I just get the itch to make something even though I don't really need to.

So we can all admire the photos :D
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson) ***

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